I've had June 3 circled on my calendar for a while. On today's do-list:

• Volunteer for tour of duty with Peace Corps;
• Dedicate myself to a healthy, vegan lifestyle;
• Cancel everything else on to-do list, buy new 3-disc set by Journey and spend entire day vegging out with headphones on.

Journey's "Revelation" was officially released today -- only at Wal-Mart -- and I'm busy buzzing through the CDs. The first disc has 11 new tunes with singer Arnel Pineda; the second offers 11 Journey classics re-recorded with Pineda; the third disc is a concert DVD that will have to wait til I get home.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Simply incredible. I started with the re-recorded classics and was blown away right from the start with "Only The Young." You couldn't wipe the smile off my face. The band re-did its tracks as well, giving each song a modernized sound. "Wheel in the Sky" loses its sleepy feeling for a more deliberate pace. One song that didn't live up to the previous version was "Separate Ways" -- not my favorite tune anyway -- but it sounds a little too tinkered with here.

THE NEW SONGS: Still making my way through them, but so far I'm very happy. Think circa "Raised on Radio" days. Very timeless and 80s-feel to them, which is the highest compliment I give to anyone these days. So far, the highlights are "Never Walk Away" and "Faith in the Heartland." I'm looking forward to Jonathan Cain's songwriting on "After All These Years" and "Turn Down the World Tonight."

I hope to have the full review up soon.